Cholent helps keep the Sabbath

Published 12:00 am, Wednesday, March 15, 2006

Brisket baked overnight in a low oven is simply a modern method of keeping the Sabbath for observant Jews.

When
the Miami Herald
published a recipe for a woman who reminisced about the dish her mother made with brisket and prunes, it learned from readers there are endless ethnic variations of the dish, known as cholent.

Overnight baking is necessary because "Orthodox Jews cannot light a fire or oven on the Sabbath, which begins at sundown Friday and ends at sundown Saturday,"
Estelle Rubenstein
e-mailed.

"So the cook puts the meat in the oven on low heat before sundown Friday, and it is ready to eat on Saturday."

The overnight oven method has its roots in times when "Jewish housewives would bring their cholent dishes to the baker's oven on the way to synagogue on Friday evening,"
Rosalyn Herman
of Davie, Fla., wrote.

"Although the fires in the oven were banked, the cholent would stay hot till the dishes were picked up after services on Saturday."

Herman makes a savory eastern European cholent of brisket or chuck layered with onions, dried lima beans and chunks of white potato.

"The onions and meat are browned in hot oil, and each layer is seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. Sprinkle some flour and paprika on top and add boiling water to cover one inch above mixture. Bake, covered, in a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven at 250 degrees overnight."

"I've tried different recipes for cholent from every nation of the Jewish diaspora," wrote Esther Frank.

In ancient times, cholent was made with grains such as barley, dried beans and little or no meat, Frank says. As Jews moved to different lands, they adapted the dish.

"I've made cholent with barley, buckwheat kasha, couscous, wild rice, matzoh, cornmeal and orzo. For beans you can use anything - I like to use a mix of red and white, such as kidney beans and chickpeas."

Frank provided the foundation for the recipe here, a blueprint that can be adapted to suit your tastes. I made this using cannellini and dark kidney beans, chopped green pepper and spinach, and limited the seasoning to paprika.

I omitted the fruit and used Valencia rice rather than barley. The result was a wonderfully flavored casserole, and I'm eager to try other combinations.